Populists in Power: Right-wing Populism and Development Policy in Europe

The rise of so-called populist movements and parties around the globe has recently become a central topic. Current research debates what populism means, who, if anyone, should be called „populist“, if and how contemporary populism is related to historical populism, and who votes for populist parties. Less research is devoted to the question what populists do if they are in power. A considerable amount of studies has analyzed policies of populist presidents in Latin America, but very few research has studied right-wing populist governing in Western Europe. But what do populist do when they govern? Current research provides no settled answers yet. This paper first introduces right-wing populist leaders in Western Europe. Second, it discusses the populist parties’ positions on development policies based on party manifestos and public statements. And third, and most importantly, the paper compares policy actions of governing populist parties in Norway, Finland, Austria, and Italy are compared.